Thursday, February 27, 2014

Sydney

Sydney, Australia

Now I'm not usually a big fan of touring cities. I feel like they all just kind of blur together. They all have a few cool monuments, lots of shopping, crowds, and maybe a subway system (that's still pretty exciting to me actually). But Sydney felt different than any other city I'd been to. Maybe it was the fact that most of the bigger cities I've been to have been in winter when I went there and it was really warm in Sydney? Or maybe Sydney is just way more awesome than most cities. I think that's probably it.

Three Amigos with Harbour Bridge in the background. Get ready for lots of pictures of the bridge and the Opera House.

Crazy Building. Coolest from far away so you can actually see all the points and curves. When you are close up, you don't really see much.

Sydney is very water-based. The harbour/river is very integral to the city. Then there are the beaches... we'll get to those soon.

Under the bridge.

Lots of boat activity in the Harbor.

The Opera House was a popular spot in the city.

Krista getting her obligatory Opera House Photo. Everyone who goes to Sydney ends up with at least 25 pictures of themself with the Opera House in the background.

If you're lucky, one of your Opera House shots will also include me photobombing you. Sorry, not sorry, Annette! : )

Here's Mine.

Close-up of the roof of the Opera House.

Annette at the Opera House steps.

Beach Time!!! This might be Manly Beach. We also went to Bondi, Bronte, and another one that I don't remember the name of. All nice.

Very chill beaches. People just relaxing. And you can just take a bus from the city center to get to most of them. Manly Beach involved a ferry ride from the Opera House.

Bustling Place!

This was on the ferry ride back from Manly Beach. Cousins Pic in front of the opera house. Note the giant cruise ship in the harbor. We had to make room for it to get through.

then we saw this Pirate Ship appear out of nowhere. Very sneaky. At first, we were afraid they were going to rob us.

Then we realized they had their sights set on a much bigger prize.

Here's another beach pic, just because.

Time to go to the Zoo! The Taronga Zoo is pretty awesome. It has all the standard zoo creatures, but I'll try to feature the things we were really there to see. Starting with Kangaroos.

and this is a Tasmanian Devil. Would you believe they actually move by creating a tiny tornado around themselves and destroying everything in their path? No? Hmm. maybe that was just the cartoon version 'Taz'. I'll have to call in an expert. I don't know what to believe anymore.

And now for the main event: the Koala Bear. Sweet face, Ugly Claws. We did the Koala Encounter where you can go in their pen and stand right next to them and take pics up close and personal. This little guy just slept the whole time, which was fine with me. They apparently do know how to use those claws to fight, and the zookeeper said he's been scratched up pretty bad lots of times. No thanks.

But they're cute when they're sleeping.

And with a face like that, I guess I can see why the zookeeper forgives them for all the scratches.